The New Deal
The Works Progress Administration (or WPA) was an agency in the United States during the New Deal. It was formed in 1935, during the "Second New Deal". It employed more workers than any government agency had before. It built thousands of roads, schools, and government buildings. Part of it was the Federal Art Project, which created, such as murals by Diego Rivera and the play The Cradle Will Rock. The agency was led by Harry Hopkins. It lasted until World War II.
This program gave millions of people jobs during the great depression.
The Federal Art Project
The New Deal was one of President Roosevelt’s efforts to end the Great Depression. Art projects were a major part of this series of federal relief programs, like the Public Works of Art Project, the Treasury Section of Painting and Sculpture and the Treasury Relief Art Project. The Federal Art Project (FAP), created in 1935 as part of the Work Progress Administration (WPA), directly funded visual artists and provided posters for other agencies like the Social Security Administration and the National Park Service. The FAP also organized traveling art shows before it ceased operations in 1943.
WPA poster encouraging laborers to work for America
New Deal Photographers : Farm Security Admin
The field of photography benefited hugely from the New Deal. In the mid-1930s, the Farm Security Administration’s Resettlement Administration hired photographers to document the work done by the agency, which launched the careers of many major photojournalists.
From 1937 to 1942 this army of photographers created iconic images defining the New Deal era. From 1942 to 1944 the Office of War Information directed photographers’ work, which now focused on patriotic images and propaganda.
The images were typically black and white, but participating photographers could take advantage of Kodak’s new color film. Each photographer was assigned a region to cover. Their general mission was to capture the life of the common person in the United States, with a particular focus on people meeting the challenges of the Great Depression.